It’s All about the Popcorn
December 18, 2025
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Streaming platforms are not movies.
I got the idea from Helen, who’s reads everything, sees everything, goes everywhere – and is as New York as a Metro card.
Helen, my Manhattan friend of many decades, and two of her friends have a Saturday morning ritual of seeing the week’s best new movie release.
Tired of never having seen any of the films nominated for Oscars, I decided to follow their practice and every Friday see a movie and wallow in a huge bucket of popcorn with refills. I call my adventure Friday Flicks.
There’s one big “But . . . .”
Helen and her pals live in Manhattan, a couple of subway stops from some of the country’s best independent film houses: Angelika, Film Forum, the IFC Center, Quad Cinema.
New Haven, on the other hand, has no movie theaters. Not one, in a city that calls itself the “Cultural Capital of Connecticut.”
Within a short drive from New Haven are two cinemas – both owned by Cinemark and both playing releases straight from Hollywood.
The movies I’ve attended since I started Friday Flicks remind me why I stopped going to the movies years ago. Mostly, they are comic books on 35mm celluloid.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe and other franchises have generated enormous box office success, but their formulaic storytelling and characterization expose their lack of artistic merit.
Critics like Manohla Dargis of The New York Times
have noted that while these films often deliver spectacle, they lack the depth and innovation of art.
Dargis says: “Franchise films, while visually striking, often sacrifice narrative complexity for the sake of lucrative sequels.”
What should going to the movies do for you?
Film critic A.O. Scott says it well: "The best films, whether they are big-budget blockbusters or indie gems, reveal something profound about the human condition."
During the past months of my movie-going, I’ve too often exited the theater thinking, “At least the popcorn was good.”
For example:
• I didn’t understand what the hell was going on in “The Phoenician Scheme” but still remember Benicio del Toro’s hangdog scowl.• I don’t remember a thing about “Eddington” or “Battle after Battle” and “After the Hunt.”• I walked out of “The Conjuring” and “Now You See Me” – and finished my popcorn in the car.
The rise of digital media and streaming platforms may transform the way audiences consume films because of their diverse storytelling styles and genres. Netflix and Amazon Prime Video have opened a space for unconventional narratives that challenge traditional Hollywood formulas.
Film scholar J. Hoberman finds that the flexibility of streaming platforms represents a new frontier for artistic expression in film: “The streaming era allows for longer narratives and deeper character explorations, akin to the best traditions of literature and theater."
And we still have independent cinema that provides a venue for artistic risk-taking by way of unconventional narratives and emphasis on character development over spectacle.
Richard Brody of The New Yorker
notes that true artistry in film often resides outside the Hollywood system:“Independent filmmakers have the freedom to challenge societal norms and explore complex human emotions without the constraints of box office predictions.”
I don’t own a television, so when I want to watch a movie at home, it’s coming at me on a thirteen-inch laptop screen. So streaming platforms, for me, are not movies.
Also, the movie experience must, must involve popcorn – the kind you get only at a movie theater.
I’m afraid my future Friday Flicks adventures may take me to Manhattan. Which ain’t a bad way to spend a Friday.